China Says to Meet 5-Year Carbon Goal After 2011 Miss on Drought

By Bloomberg News -
Mar 5, 2012

China, the biggest carbon emitter,
said it will meet its five-year projection for saving energy and
curbing greenhouse gases through 2015 even after missing its
2011 target following a drought that reduced hydropower.

“Last year wasn’t good enough to reach emission-cut
targets,” said Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and
Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner.
“Hydropower didn’t fully play a role due to drought in the
south,” Zhang said, adding he’s confident of the 2015 goals.

China cut so-called energy intensity for each unit of gross
domestic product by 2.01 percent in 2011, less than the goal of
3.5 percent, Zhang said at a briefing in Beijing as part of the
National People’s Congress. “The slashing of carbon dioxide
emissions per unit of GDP was worse than that of energy
intensity” and nitrogen oxides rose 5.73 percent, he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao has prioritized pollution, narrowing the
wealth gap and curbing other side effects from economic growth
as China seeks to prevent social unrest. The country lowered its
economic growth target to 7.5 percent, the least since 2004, to
create a more sustainable economy, and aims to cut energy use 16
percent for every 10,000-yuan unit of GDP by 2015.

China missed a target to cut use by 20 percent for the five
years ending 2010 even after shutting at least 7,000 factories
and banning power discounts to high-energy-consuming businesses.
From 2005 to 2010, China reduced its energy use by 19 percent
for every unit of GDP, the State Council said in September.

Outdated Capacity

The country will speed up elimination of outdated capacity
in the power, steel, construction, non-ferrous and petrochemical
industries, according to a Feb. 29 statement on the central
government website, citing a meeting presided by Wen.

China in September said it planned to boost efficiency in
use of fuel including coal and oil. It will curb growth of high-
energy-consuming and polluting industries in the five-year plan.

Coal accounts for about 70 percent of energy demand in the
world’s biggest consumer of energy. The plan assigns targets to
cut energy use in the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and
Guangdong, and Shanghai and Tianjin municipalities, 18 percent
per unit of GDP by 2015, 2 points more than the nation goal.